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What is the baptism of repentance by John?
John the Baptist was a servant of the
Lord, who was born 6 months ahead of Jesus, and who was foretold
in Malachi, the last Prophet in the Old Testament. "Remember
the Law of Moses, My servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for
all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send
you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful
day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the children to
their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse"
(Malachi 4:4-6).
When Jesus was born, people of Israel
abandoned the words of God's covenant and worshipped foreign gods.
They offered the blind and blemish as a sacrifice, and made the
temple of God a place of business. Jesus Christ is foretold in the
Law of Moses and the Prophets. The Law gives man the knowledge of
sin, showing how he is sinful (Romans 3:20). It is a sin not to
abide by all things written in the books of the Law, to perform.
In the Old Testament, a sinner who disobeyed any of the things of
the Law brought a sin offering in front of the tabernacle, and put
his hands on the head of the sin offering to lay his sin on it,
and slew the sin offering to be forgiven and united with God. Then
the priest took some of its blood and put it on the horns of the
altar of burnt offering and poured out all the rest of its blood
at the base of the altar.
However, the people of Israel couldn't
be delivered from all their sins regardless of daily offerings.
Therefore, God made a permanent statute for them, the Day of Atonement.
It was at this time God would forgive their yearly sins on the tenth
day of the seventh month. On that day Aaron, the high priest, took
two goats and cast lots for the two goats; one for the Lord and
the other for the scapegoat. Then he laid his hands on the head
of the goat for the Lord to lay all the yearly sins of the people
of Israel on it. Aaron then slew it and took its blood, and sprinkled
it seven times on and in front of the mercy seat. When he finished
atoning for the holy place, he offered the other lot. He laid his
hands on the head of the live goat, and confessed over it all the
yearly sins of Israel, and laid the sins on it, and sent it away
into the wilderness by the hand of a man who stands in readiness.
The Israelites could be redeemed from their yearly sins in that
way.
However, the sacrifice offered according
to the Law of the Old Testament could not make perfect those who
offered continually year by year. It was merely a shadow of the
good things (the Messiah) to come. People of Israel did not wait
for Jesus Christ, the Savior. Instead they worshipped strange gods
in a sinful world, abandoning the words of the Prophets in the Old
Testament.
Thus, God foretold to send John the
Baptist in order to restore the hearts of the Israelites to Him,
and to prepare their hearts to receive Jesus Christ. Before John
the Baptist baptized Jesus, he gave the baptism of repentance to
the people of Israel in the wilderness of Judea. His purpose of
baptizing them with water was to lead them to believe and look for
Jesus who would be baptized by him in the way of the laying on of
hands to take away all the sins of the world and crucified to save
them from all their sins. He said that Jesus would come and take
away the incomplete sacrifices and offer one sacrifice for sins
for all time, just as the people of Israel were redeemed by bringing
a sin offering without blemish, by laying their hands on it, and
by slaying it according to the sacrificial system in the Old Testament.
Many Israelites confessed their sins,
repented, were baptized by him. "Repentance" means "to
return one's mind to the Lord." They came to John, and remember
the Law of the Old Testament, and confessed that they only sin until
they die and cannot enter the kingdom of heaven with their good
deeds according to the Law, and returned their minds to Jesus Christ,
who would blot out all their sins once and for all and open the
gate to the kingdom of heaven. The baptism that John the Baptist
gave to the people of Israel was to let them confess how much they
sin in their lives and repent and look for Jesus Christ, who would
be baptized by him, the high priest and the representative of mankind,
and crucified to save them from all their sins, just as he baptized
them. This is a true biblical repentance. Therefore, John exclaimed
to the people, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance,
but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals
I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit
and fire" (Matthew 3:11).
John the Baptist turned peoples' minds
to Jesus, testified them that Jesus took away all the sins of the
world (John 1:29), and died a martyr.
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